HotSchedules Uses Facebook to Engage with Users, Identify Industry Trends, Garner Feedback on Its Restaurant Labor Management Solutions

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- HotSchedules, the leading provider of online employee scheduling and labor management solutions for the restaurant industry, recently held a contest to increase its Facebook fan base and encourage more interaction on the company’s Facebook page. HotSchedules began the contest in June with around 700 fans, and ended it in October with over 4,300 fans – an increase of nearly 500 percent. Biweekly throughout the contest, HotSchedules posted a new question to its Facebook page, and every HotSchedules user who answered the question had a chance to win a small prize for each round.

“The Facebook contest was a chance for us to engage directly with HotSchedules users, so we used this valuable opportunity to ask a variety of questions about our products and about the restaurant industry as a whole,” said David Cantu, VP of Business Development, HotSchedules. “The contest resulted not only in a dramatic increase in engagement on our Facebook page, but also in our team gaining important feedback and insight into how our products are used and how we can continue improving them.”

Through the contest, HotSchedules found that:

• Given all the available methods for accessing HotSchedules (online, toll-free phone number, mobile apps, SMS text message, and email), 73 percent of users primarily access HotSchedules online on a computer, while 12 percent prefer SMS and eight percent prefer using the mobile apps for iPhone, BlackBerry or Android phones.
• 41 percent (the majority of respondents) of HotSchedules users surveyed said now that they are accustomed to the tool, they would never work at a restaurant without it.
• 76 percent of current users surveyed said that HotSchedules is an integral part of the company culture at the restaurant where they work.

“We received valuable feedback on what our users value most in their restaurant culture, and how employers can hold on to their best and brightest employees,” Cantu said. “We wanted this to be a fun experience for our users to participate in, and we raffled prizes randomly instead of awarding the ‘best answers,’ since we were looking for candid, honest responses.”

HotSchedules designed contest questions to provide insight into how restaurants can keep their best employees satisfied in order to retain a top-quality workforce and reduce the industry’s high turnover rate. The most common responses from restaurant employees included receiving positive feedback and appreciation from managers; encouraging healthy competition with nightly contests; fair treatment to all employees; and flexibility for work-life balance, such as use of HotSchedules.

One HotSchedules user commented, “As an employee, we could always use praise for a job/shift well done... We want to say ‘I love my job’ because we mean it, not because things are a wreck and we're trying to remind ourselves of fun, smooth running, profitable and productive shifts. I love going to eat at other restaurants and seeing employees coming out into the dining room from their heart of house laughing and having a good time. They spread that to their guests!”

For the last official question of the contest, HotSchedules asked its customers to imagine the restaurant industry in 20 years and identify the three main differences they hoped to see. Some of the most echoed sentiments included:

• Digital menus for easy updating
• Wireless handheld order tablets with payment processing for efficiency, order accuracy, kitchen communication and paper conservation
• True minimum wage for servers instead of gratuity-based wage, with access to affordable health insurance and paid time off for full-time hourly workers
• More locally grown, organic, and healthy food options at all restaurants

About HotSchedules

HotSchedules, innovators of the most widely used web-based restaurant workforce management solutions and mobile applications, sets the industry standard for service, support and labor management expertise. By engaging with its clients as partners, HotSchedules vastly improves management-employee communications, resulting in greater employee satisfaction and retention—and offers a fast, proven ROI through reduced manual scheduling and labor costs. From independent restaurants to corporate chains, HotSchedules’ suite of solutions empowers restaurant staff and managers with all the tools they need to communicate effectively and efficiently. More than 5,000 restaurants and over 500,000 users rely on HotSchedules every day. HotSchedules complements its product offerings with a world-class, bilingual support staff at the company’s headquarters in Austin, Texas. Follow HotSchedules on Twitter at www.twitter.com/hotschedules.

HotSchedules’ corporate and franchise clients include such well-known concepts as Outback Steakhouse, the Cheesecake Factory, P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Carino’s Italian, Claim Jumper Restaurants, Carrabba’s Italian Grill, Fleming’s Steakhouse, Applebee’s, BJ’s Restaurants, Gordon Biersch, Jamba Juice and many others. For more information, visit www.hotschedules.com.

Ketner Group (for HotSchedules)Catherine Seeds, 512-794-8876
orValerie Kusler, 512-794-8876
[email protected]

Source: HotSchedules